It was a sad, broken Boyo Ramsaroop who died at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) on Saturday morning, days after he was hospitalised as a result of a number of medical complications.
He was 72.
Ramsaroop’s son, Gerhard Ramsaroop, yesterday confirmed that his father passed away. He said his father could be described as a broken man in his later days, as everything he fought for in his early days and all the dreams he had for the country did not materialise.
Alliance For Change (AFC) Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday describ-ed Ramsaroop as a “fearless fighter” in the political struggle for many years. He too said Ramsaroop would have been saddened at the end about what had become to the PPP party. It was the party that Ramsaroop served for some 60 years, before cutting ties and joining the newly formed AFC. According to Ramjattan, he would have been “disappointed with the arrogance of the PPP/C.”
Ramjattan expressed deepest condolences to the relatives of Ramsaroop, adding that the now dead man had been a “big pillar” of support since the establishment of the AFC.
The AFC chairman, who said he had known Ramsaroop for many years, described him as a “fearless fighter against the PNC until 1992” and he was also a fearless fighter after that year. According to Ramjattan, Ramsaroop’s cause was to see justice done to all and he had the added attribute of actually visiting the various communities and listening to the complaints of the masses. “He was an extremely hard worker and his honesty was never brought into question,” Ramjattan said.
He described Ramsaroop’s passing as great loss of “institutional memory of politics in Guyana” as from the early fifties, with the late President Cheddi Jagan; he lived through all the struggles for better governance in Guyana, from colonial days through the PNC years and lately the PPP years.
Ramjattan pointed out that the fallout between Ramsaroop and the PPP extremely saddened him and he was “bitterly disappointed” how he and some other comrades were treated in recent years.
“He was very much saddened at the end,” Ramjattan said.
Fondest memories
Gerhard said his father suffered from advanced diabetes and in recent years he had also developed a heart problem. The young man, who described the relationship with his father over the last 15 years as “very rocky,” said that his fondest memories of his father were when he was a young child and the strong family values his father instilled in him. While they may have differed on politics and business principles–the family had a business that not only dealt with flower plants but was very diverse as at one time they even imported vehicle parts–Gerhard remembered the good old days when his father picked him up from school and they would visit a Chinese restaurant for a meal and later the theatre.
He recalled on those days Georgetown was “less chaotic” and persons were not scared to be out and about. He said his father paid attention to his education and he remembered that he had purchased about 25 classic books for him just before he wrote the then common entrance examination and they assisted him greatly in doing well at his examination.
Gerhard said that while his family was middle class he had a “country type upbringing” as he had responsibilities at home and his father ensured that he did his chores. Speaking about the kind of man his father was Gerhard described him as “very honest in his principles, honest and not being racist and open to other people’s views.”
Ramsaroop, who had studied in Germany, had married a German citizen, Brigitte, who according to their son returned to the country of her birth a few years ago after the family had suffered a bandit attack. Gerhard said in recent years his mother had felt “alienated” as Guyana was no longer the country she had come to love. Other than Gerhard and his wife, Ramsaroop also leaves his daughter, Nadja who lives with her mother in Germany, to mourn his death.
‘Increasingly dissatisfied’
In recent times, Ramsaroop wrote many letters to the press and in one particular detailed letter, he explained his shift from PPP to the AFC. He had said after the death of Dr Jagan in 1997, “I became increasingly dissatisfied with developments in the party to the point where, on my 68th birthday in May 2006, I chose to leave, and no urging by senior PPP people could have changed my mind.” He had said after the death of the former president many members “who had given long and faithful service to the party were no longer appreciated, and the value of their service was overlooked and discarded. Some of them were expelled, others were ignored.”
Ramsaroop had written that the present PPP government got into trouble with older party members with whom it disagrees, “and whose services it treats with indifference and disrespect.
“Some, like me, because of this treatment, increasing corruption and increasingly inept and heartless governance (Dr Jagan would never have imposed the VAT because it puts the brunt of the burden on the poor), have become members of the AFC. With this drift away from the PPP, the party’s prospects in future elections have become highly problematical, in fact, quite uncertain,” Ramsaroop had written.
And as a testimony to his love for the country and for all of its peoples, Ramsaroop was recognized by residents of Sophia for his benevolent work with troubled youths in the area. He had resided on the immediate outskirts of the community and took an interest in what he had described back then as “crime and what it was doing to Sophia youths.” He spoke of his initiative ‘The Plum Park Project’ in a detailed interview with this newspaper a few years ago; his vision was to effect change in the lives of young men who were in conflict with the law.
Ramsaroop not only worked with the youths, but he also assisted a few of mothers in the area. He had recalled during the interview one particular woman who he supported with a move to set up a confectionary stand. For his project, he had recruited around six young men from the area to work with him in the areas of horticulture, farming, masonry and electrical installation. The young men were given a stipend initially and later salaries.
Ramsaroop had explained back then that he was sitting on years of training in several areas and that he wanted to pass on the knowledge to youths who would put it some use. He had worked with one young man in particular, who he saw potential in, but the youth was later gunned down in an exchange with police. Ramsaroop had expressed his displeasure with the manner in which the exchange went and he had also questioned the police report. Ramsaroop referred to shooting incident which claimed the lad’s life saying it was situations such as those which he wanted to prevent.
The Plum Park project eventually collapsed after Ramsaroop’s home was burglarized on several occasions and he decided to relocate from the Sophia area. He had said too that some of the youths had lost interest and that he was fighting a difficult battle. But during the days of the project, some of the young men who were interviewed by this newspaper had talked about the impact it had on their lives. One man said he was addicted to marijuana and that Ramsaroop made him change because he found something useful for him to do.